Hassan Kamel Al-Sabbah was born in Nabatieh,
Lebanon. He was an electrical and electronics research engineer,
mathematician and inventor par excellence. He studied at the
American University of Beirut. He taught mathematics at Imperial
College of Damascus, Syria, and at the American University of
Beirut. He is seen as being the father of the solar cell. He
died in an automobile accident at Lewis near Elizabeth Town,
N.Y.

In 1921, he
travelled to the United States and for a short time studied at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the
University of Illinois in 1923. He entered the vacuum tube
section of the Engineering Laboratory of the General Electric
Company at Schenectady N.Y., in 1923, where he was engaged in
mathematical and experimental research, principally on
rectifiers and inverters, receiving over 70 United States and
foreign patents covering his work. He was engaged in work on
television and motors as well, and originated circuits for use
with rectifiers. He prepared a series of articles on polyphase
polycyclic static converters which were published in the
Genenral Electric Review and his paper on the effect of circuits
on arc backs in mercury congress at Paris in 1932. He was also
on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
fellowship grade.

Mr. Al-Sabbah’s
dream was to build sun-powered cells in the Arabian desert; the
main ingredients for solar power are sand (making solar cells)
and strong sun (powering it). In 1935, he declared that he would
return to the Middle East and transform the Arabian desert into
a paradise. (He was talking about using the desert to make and
power the solar cells and thus producing enormous amounts of
energy).

Mr. C.G.
Marcy, the personnel director of General Electric Company, used
these words to describe Hasan Kamel Al-Sabbah in a letter dated
April 16, 1935:

"It is
indeed infortunate that his genius mind should be brought to
such an untimely end. His death is a great loss for the world of
invention"

He is the
nephew of prominent linguist and writer Sheikh Ahmad Reda.

Discoveries and inventions:

It is
necessary to show the application and technical importance of
how Hasan Kamel Alsabbah’s inventions and patents have
contributed to applied technology in North America and the
entire world. These patents of highly intricate systems,
instruments and equipment can be classified in six main groups
as follows:

Space Industry (Solar power)

There are 27
patents (1928-35) of Hasan Kamel Alsabbah applied in space
industries. Solar cells have been widely used for space vehicles
and satellites as the main source of power. The original
solar cell was invented and tested by Mr. Al-sabbah in 1930;
solar power is by far the cleanest, safest and most efficient
source of energy. The solar cell was further developed after
World War II by Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1955. Careful
review of the aircraft, spaceship, and satellite electric
systems revealed that many electronic instruments and equipments
(integrators, regulators, inverters, timers, transmitters, and
sensors) are major components of the assembly of these crafts
and are developed from Mr. Alsabbah’s original inventions of
rectifiers and converters.

Automotive Industry (The Solar Electric
Car)

There are
five basic patents (1929-35) on electric distribution,
transforming and translating circuits. In 1930, Alsabbah
performed experiments on his own car to electrify it. He worked
seriously to make the idea of the electric car a useful and
practical possibility. His early experiments gave GE the unique
position as a pioneer in developing the solar cell and sodium-sulphur
battery as well. With increasing shortage of liquid fuel,
battery-powered electric cars will become attractive for
personal transport in and around towns.

Television and Cathode Ray Tube
Application

There are
three patents on television-transmission of pictures and views
(1928-30) and two patents on cathode ray tube (1935). GE
research engineers at Schenectady N.Y. developed the liquid
crystal display (LCD) instrument system based on the original
patents of Hasan Kamel Al-Sabbah. It is the world’s largest high
resolution LCD panel for aircraft. It presents information in
colour, and with twice the sharpness of a home TV screen. The
display owes its high resolution to the large number of pixels
(dots) that are activated toform an image on its screen, LCD
imgaes are normally black and green filters. Further development
and modifications of the Alsabbah cathode ray tube created new
types of CRT used in electronic systems.The television would not
have been discovered without this.

Power Generating Station

It is
important to note that six patents (1929-35) dealt with
Recifying and Rectifier Compounding systems. Another 24 patents
(1930-30) dealt with electric power conversion and excitation
systems. Hasan Kamel Alsabbah established in the early Thirties
the basic techniques for many applicable procedures for the
protection of the excitation transformers over current and rotor
over voltage/load. He left after his death a great technical
legacy of useful methods, procedures and formulas. All his
procedures are presently used by GE’s commissioning and
operation department and totally or partially adopted and
further developed by the otherelectrical power equipment
manufacturers. GE engineers recently developed several
electornic equipments based on the original patents of Hasan
Kamel Alsabbah. Among the new devices are the metal-oxide
semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), the conductivity
modulated field-effecttransistor (COMFET), the high-power
bipolar junction transistor (HPBJT), the power MOS-controlled
thyristor (PMOSCT) and the HVDC thyristor valves. When he was
young, he said to his mother if the streams of the radio work,
what if we put a screen over that and the streams will be the
same but we will see a picture!! The Television would'nt have
been made with out him.

Pressure and Temperature Electric
Instrumentation

There are
three basic patents on pressure control (1927-30) and one patent
on temperature control (1935). It is important to note that many
pressure and temperature devices developed to be used in the
control of steam, reheat stages (such as indicators,
transmitters, switches, sensors,detectors and controllers) are
based on the original patents of Mr. Alsabbah. Several major
pressure and temperature electronic gauge manufacturers signed
mutual agreements with GE to produce and/or further develop the
Alsabbah inventions.

Heavy Industry: Development of New Arc
Welding Methods

There are
basic patents on vapour electric arc (1928-30), in addition to
the six patents on rectifying and rectifiers (1928-35). These
inventions are the cornerstone of the arc-welding machines. The
Alsabbah rectifying system was further developed by GE. The GE
AC/DC transformer/rectifier was introduced to the market in
1930. This transformer/rectifier was the essential part of the
shield metal arc welding (SMAW) machine in 1936 and Mr. Hopkins
developed the electro slag welding (EW) machine in 1937. The
heavy industry (ships, submarines, tanks and turbo-generators)
could not progress without the development of the new arc
welding machinery. In the early years of theSecond World War,
many welding machine manufacturers further developed the welding
machine to meet the military industry requirements by using the
rectifying system of Mr.Alsabbah.